PartOne

Part One - Chapters 1-2

1. Evolution
2. Paleoanthropology/Anthropology
3. Dan Johansen/Lucy
4. Homo Sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals)
5. Homo Sapiens' migrations and peopling of the world
6. Human migration and population boom --> key factors?
7. War --> natural human tendency or cultural invention?
8. Venus of Willendorf and Venus of Laussel
9. Ice-Age affluence
10. material culture --> insights it provides into Ice-Age society and culture?
11. Ice-Age religious belief system/Shaman
12. Foraging peoples (e.g. San/Bushmen)

1. What methods or approaches do paleo-anthropologists and anthropologists use that differ from those of historians?
2. What are the fundamental differences and overlaps between Homo Sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis?
3. How does the disagreement/debate over what ancestors do or do not constitute fully "human" reveal contemporary attitudes and rifts?
4. *How does the tension and deep-seated conflict created over the issue of evolution reveal some of the methodological rifts between history and other disciplines?
5. *How does Fernández-Armesto's description of humans throughout the chapter (e.g on p. 9 "In this environment..."particular kind of habitat"; p. 14 "Creatures like us...") reflect a different treatment and tone toward humans than the one typically found in history texts (and popular culture)?
6. What drove the great human migrations and how did this great migration of Homo Sapiens change the way in which human societies expanded, interacted with one another, and defined gender roles?
7. How did Ice-Age art (and art in general) reflect the cultural habits and practices of humans that lived during this period?
8. *How has the interpretation of the settlement and peopling of the New World changed, and what does this change reflect about the role contemporary beliefs play in the shaping of history?
9. Why is the process of dating the peopling of the New World so difficult, and therefore, still unresolved?
10. What characteristics most defined those groups of humans that remained foragers, and how did those characteristics differ from other post-Ice-Age groups?

1. Husbandry --> how did it change human life-patterns?
2. Civilization
3. unnatural selection
4. aborigines --> reasons for rejection of agriculture?
5. Profile/characteristics of pre-agricultural settlement and settlers --> consider using P/S/E breakdown.
6. Jomon people
7. Herders - geographic location? role of prairie/pampa/steppe/Sahel? societal structure?
8. Scythians --> why a significant example of Herders?
9. Tillers - geographic location? prerequisites necessary? societal structure?
10. Tillers' environments - Swamplands; Uplands; Alluvial Plains --> know characteristics of each.
11. Earliest cities --> Jericho; Catalhüyük
12. Climacteric --> why significant as a concept?

1. How did the development of "civilization" change humankind's perception of its relationship with the environment?
2. Why does Fernández-Armesto suggest that societies that practice agriculture are the most unstable? What connection might exist between the development of agriculture and the instability of a society?
3. Why did James Cook (and more generally those who look at and interpret societies very different from their own) view the society on Possession Island to be so perplexing? How does one's own experience shape the perception one has of others?
4. How did the transition to settled agriculture often produce negative effects and new challenges in contrast to the life of foragers?
5. How does Fernández-Armesto's "Making Connections" chart on p. 41 illustrate his approach to understanding history? What does his depiction of the causal relationship suggest about what drives human behavior and history?
6. Why does Fernández-Armesto choose to offer so many different explanations for the rise of farming? What does this decision to include competing interpretations reveal about his approach to understanding history?
7. Which of the explanations for the rise of farming is the most convincing and why? What evidence would you draw on to support your determination as that particular explanation as the most persuasive?
8. How does Fernández-Armesto's use of climacteric as a concept help us reconsider our understanding of the origins of the earliest human settlements and the way in which they sustained themselves? Why does he prefer this concept as opposed to that of a "revolution"?

• National Geographic - The Genographic Project
• Link to Armesto's Ch. 1 Review Questions, etc. via Prentice Hall
• Link to Armesto's Ch. 2 Review Questions, etc. via Prentice Hall
• Primary Source - James Cook's Journals of his Voyages

• Three days - 5-13; 13-20; 20-28
• Two days - 5-16; 16-28

• Three days - 31-36; 36-46; 46-55
• Two days - 31-40; 40-55